17 Farmers Commit Suicide Everyday In India, It's Time For Politicians To Move Beyond Promises

Farm loans waivers, Rs 500 every month in their account, uninterrupted power supply, an iron hand implementation of Minimum Sale Price (MSP) and what not - the political parties are unleashing sugar-coated promises every day.

But, these promises have been made for years and all this while the farmers have been committing suicides in large numbers every year. With 17 farmers/cultivators a day across India in 2016, a total 6,351 farmer suicides were recorded in India and this number was 22 a day in 2015 with 8007 farmer suicides and as usual, the government quickly jump to take credit for this decline. The government of India has not shared data of farmers' suicide since 2016.

AFP

Though the suicides in the farming sector have declined by 10 per cent from a total of 12, 602 (8007 by farmers/cultivators and 4595 by agricultural labourers) in 2015 to a total of 11, 370 ( 6351 by farmers/cultivators and 5019 by agricultural labourers), there has been no improvement in the quality of a farmers life.

Major states with massive farmer suicide cases

Though it¡¯s a pan-India issues and farmers across the country have been committing suicides, but Maharashtra (3661), Madhya Pradesh (1321) , Karnataka (2079) , Andhra Pradesh (804), Telangana (645), and Chhattisgarh (682) are major states where farmers and agricultural labourers commit suicide in large number each. The numbers give against the state are of 2016.

Reuters

Apart from these states, even in states which are considered in terms of agriculture and farmer well being, the suicide has been happening. For instance, Punjab (271 ) and Haryana (250) too witness many cases of suicide in the agriculture sector.

AFP/Representational Image

Major constituencies or regions

Although there has been no district wise study of the farmer suicides there have been regions in various states where farmer suicides are prominent. Marathwada and Vidarbha region in Maharashtra are two major regions which remain in news for farmer suicides.

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In February 2019, news agency PTI reported that Maharashtra state government had identified 14 suicide-prone districts where counselling was to be given to farmers. An official release from the government identified these districts as Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad, Parbhani in Marathwada and Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Washim, Yavatmal and Wardha in Vidarbha.

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Similarly, in November 2018, The Times of India reported that From April 2016 to August 2018, 2,480 farmer suicides were reported and Belagavi, Bagalkot, Mandya, Haveri and Vijayapura account for 26 per cent of farmer suicides in the state.

Main reasons for the farmer suicides

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) 2015, the major reasons behind farmer¡¯s suicides are bankruptcy or indebtedness and agriculture-related issues.

pti

'Bankruptcy or Indebtedness¡¯ and ¡®Farming Related Issues¡¯ are reported as major causes of suicides among farmers/cultivators, accounting for 38.7% (3,097 out of 8,007 suicides) and 19.5% (1,562 out of 8,007 suicides) of total such suicides respectively during 2015,¡± reads the report.

AFP/Representational Image

¡°The other prominent causes of farmer/cultivators suicides were ¡®Family Problems¡¯ (933 suicides), ¡®Illness¡¯ (842 suicides) and ¡®Drug Abuse/Alcoholic Addiction¡¯ (330 suicides), accounting for 11.7%, 10.5% and 4.1% of total farmers/cultivators suicides respectively,¡± read the report.

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